The present invention relates to the art of generating and processing electrical signals containing digital information, and in particular to the art of generating electrical signals related to the operation of a dictation system and providing processed electrical signals containing digital information concerning the present state of operation of the dictation system and other information required for the management of dictation and transcription generated by a dictation system.
Modern dictation systems have become increasingly complex. Generally, such dictation systems include at least one central recorder. Access to the various central recorders of the dictation system is no longer limited to access by a single dictation station. Additionally, the ability to transcribe dictation from the various central recorders is often shared in modern systems by a number of different transcriptionists. Finally, in some modern systems the dictation is recorded on individual recording members, such as cassettes, so that the dictation may be transcribed from the record members by a number of transcriptionists, each having a playback apparatus, simultaneously and without the need for each transcriptionist to be connected to the central recorder itself. The problems created by the operation of such systems will be hereinafter described more fully.
Modern dictation systems generally include at least one central recorder to which a plurality of remote dictate stations are connected. Dictation systems have evolved away from the systems in which each office had a separate dictation recording machine on which dictation was to be recorded on a wire, a magnetic belt or a tape and then collected to be typed by a secretary having a machine for playing the recorded dictation back for transcription. The advantages of the central recorder include the fact that it is more economical and efficient since it avoids duplication of equipment and it provides a dictation capability to more people.
Many modern dictation systems include more than one central recorder. The use of more than one central recorder enables a greater number of persons to dictate at the same time. However, since there is more than one recorder and each recorder is available to a number of people, the use of a central recorder has the disadvantage of not permitting the identification of the recorded material as that dictated by any specific individual or dictate station. While this problem may not be acute in systems providing manual switching to connect to the dictate stations to the central recorder and in which the number of dictate stations is small, the problem becomes more serious in situations in which the number of dictate stations is great and in which the persons dictating have no control over which central recorder they are connected since the connection is made automatically based on the availability of recorders. For example, in some of the older systems having more than one central recorder, the individual stations were manually switched to connect to a particular recorder. This information, along with the relative order in which the dictation was recorded relative to other pieces of dictation, permitted a person charged with the task of transcribing the material to locate it fairly quickly. However, as the number of dictate stations and central recorders increased, automatic switching to the first available recorder became a part of many dictation systems. Thus, in many modern systems the location of a particular piece of dictation which has been dictated routinely was not possible unless it had been assigned a priority when recorded in those systems having a separate recorder for priority dictation. An example of such a system is disclosed in copending applications Ser. No. 554,476, filed Mar. 3, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,354; and 753,359, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,436, 753,360, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,138,695 and 753,361, now abandoned all filed Dec. 22, 1976 and all assigned to Lanier Electronic Laboratory, Inc.
Another important feature of modern dictation systems which has been described above is the ability of the system to connect a number of different dictate stations, or indeed even ordinary public telephones, to the central recorders of the dictation system. Thus, several dictation stations and all telephones will have access to each of the central recorders of the dictation system. This feature of modern dictation systems may be used in dictation systems having either the older bin-type recorders or the newer cassette dictation recorders which will be described below. Because of the possibility that a number of different individuals using a number of different dictate stations and public telephones might have had access to a particular recorder, it is not possible to identify the dictation of a particular individual by reference to the recorder on which the dictation has been recorded. Additionally, in most modern systems, not only will a large number of individuals have access to a particular recorder but each individual will have access to a number of different recorders and will be assigned a particular recorder based upon the availability of recorders in the system. These features, while making dictation more efficient for the person dictating and also permitting more efficient use of the recorders, precludes identification of the person who has dictated a particular piece of dictation on a particular recorder, or in the case of the cassette recorders to be described below, on a particular recorder and a particular cassette. This inability to identify a piece of dictation by reference to the person who has dictated it precludes assigning that dictation priority over other less important pieces of dictation. This inability to assign priority to a particular piece of dictation is a further example of the sacrifice in control and management of the transcription operation which have been made in order to make more efficient use of the recorders and to make the dictation system more accessible to the individuals dictating.
Another principal cause of management problems in the modern systems described above is the introduction of a plurality of record members, such as cassettes, which may each be used to record one or more pieces of dictation on a particular recorder. Such dictation systems include the system disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 554,476, filed Mar. 3, 1975; Ser. Nos. 753,359, 753,360 and 753,361 all filed Dec. 22, 1976 and all assigned to Lanier Electronic Laboratory, Inc. The advantage in having more than one record member on each central recorder is derived primarily from the fact that the advantages in efficient utilization of dictation recording equipment are retained, but without sacrificing the ability to transcribe the dictation in an order other than the order in which they were recorded. Additionally, several pieces of dictation may be transcribed simultaneously by several different transcriptionists, each having a dictation playback machine. Thus, for example, an important piece of dictation may be designated as a priority piece of dictation even though recorded by the same recorder that is ordinarily and routinely used for all dictation, and still be transcribed before less important pieces of dictation. Thus, eliminating the necessity of a separate priority recorder.
It has also become known in the art to use small hand-held dictation recorders which will record dictation on individual recording members, such as cassettes. The small hand-held dictation recorders allow the person dictating a greater degree of mobility and permit that person to use otherwise idle time more efficiently. The recording members upon which dictation is recorded by the small hand-held dictation recorders may be generally transcribed by a transcriptionist having a transcription playback machine compatible with the above-described cassette recording system. Additionally, if the recording members used in the hand-held dictation machine are smaller than ordinary cassettes, adapters are available for adapting the ordinary dictation playback machine to play back dictation recorded on a the smaller recording member.
While there are substantial advantages to be derived from the use of separate recording members, such as cassettes, to record dictation, the use of individual recording members also creates additional identification and management problems. In the modern dictation systems having one or more cassette dictation recorders, each recording on a plurality of recording members with automatic switching as described above, the location and identification of particular pieces of dictation as being the dictation recorded on a particular recorder and a particular recording member is a problem. The problem is further compounded by the fact that the recording members are transcribed remotely from the central recorder by a number of transcriptionists each responsible for transcribing dictation recorded on a number of different machines or a number of transcriptionists responsible for transcribing the dictation recorded on a particular machine. Moreover, the recording members are generally small in size and may be easily misplaced. Finally, the individual recording members are all similar in appearance and the dictation cannot be identified in any way other than by listening to the various cassettes. Another disadvantage of the cassette dictation recorders is in precisely determining the amount of dictation remaining to be transcribed. In the older bin-type systems the amount of dictation yet to be transcribed could be ascertained by measuring the amount of recorded tape in the bin which had not yet been transcribed. In the modern systems, the amount of dictation remaining to be transcribed may be distributed on a large number of different cassettes, each containing a different amount of recorded tape. While a rough estimate might be based on the number of cassettes outstanding, a precise determination cannot be so approximated. Thus, the straightforward methods of ascertaining the amount of recorded yet untranscribed tape used in the older systems are not applicable to the newer systems.
As has been described above, the control and management of the transcription operation in the dictation system is made more difficult by the existence of a number of different cassettes, each containing a different amount of recorded material, upon which the dictation is recorded. A further feature of cassette dictation recording which has been described above is that each transcriptionist is provided a separate cassette playback machine from which to play back the recorded dictation for transcription. Thus, the use of cassettes to record dictation enables a number of different transcriptionists to simultaneously transcribe material which has been recorded on a single recorder. In fact, the number of transcriptionists transcribing the dictated material is unlimited in such a system. Thus, it will be appreciated that as the number of transcriptionists increases the control and management problems associated with a transcription operation will also increase.
In summary, while the advances in the art have greatly increased the efficiency of modern dictation systems, they have sacrificed the simplicity which made dictation identifiable and the transcription operation manageable. Thus, it is no longer possible to identify a particular piece of dictation by reference to the recorder or the cassette upon which the dictation has been recorded. This inability to identify dictation precludes the assignment of priority to important pieces of dictation. Furthermore, it is no longer possible to ascertain the amount of recorded yet untranscribed dictation remaining within the system or the progress which has been made in transcribing the dictated material simply by reference to the levels of recorded tape in the system. Finally, the fact that the dictation is recorded on a number of different cassettes means that the dictation may be lost or misplaced and also that it will be more difficult to identify and monitor the progress of the particular transcriptionist who has been assigned the task of transcribing the dictation.